I really need to listen to this podcast more often.

As far as interviews with big corporate bosses go, this is a genuinely interesting and frank one. Musk addresses a range of questions from Swisher regarding the Model 3, conflict online with journalists, the toll on his employees, engineering feats at The Boring Company and more.

Musk on journalists…

‘Count how many negative articles there are and how many I respond to. One percent, maybe. But the common rebuttal of journalists is, “Oh. My article’s fine. He’s just thin-skinned.” No, your article is false and you don’t want to admit it.‘

The stress of running Tesla this past year…

‘It’s been terrible. This year felt like five years of aging, frankly. The worst year of my entire career. Insanely painful.‘

Confidence in Tesla’s lead over other car companies in software and self-driving…

The other car companies… I don’t wanna sound over-confident, but I would be very surprised if any of the car companies exceeded Tesla in self-driving, in getting to full self-driving. 

You know, I think we’ll get to full self-driving next year. As a generalized solution, I think. But that’s a… Like we’re on track to do that next year. So I don’t know. I don’t think anyone else is on track to do it next year.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Overcast and read the transcript on Recode.